Memories of valor

The Warriors is part of a nationwide homage to the 80th anniversary of the end of the Long March. [Photo provided to China Daily]

During the Long March, a pivotal battle was fought by the Red Army when 22 soldiers risked their lives to cross a 103-meter suspension bridge under fire from the Kuomintang forces.

Reckoned as a military miracle, the conflict on Luding Bridge over the raging Dadu River in Southwest China's Sichuan province on May 29, 1935, has been recorded in the collective memory of Chinese people.

Generations have read about this heroic episode in their school textbooks.

Now, a 102-minute feature is bringing this alive on the big screen.

The Warriors, with a cast led by Li Dongxue, Yu Xiaowei and Nie Yuan, opened in Chinese theaters on Friday.

The film is part of a nationwide homage to the Communist soldiers on the 80th anniversary of the end of the Long March this year.

Lasting from 1934 to 1936, the Long March was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army to avoid being captured by the Kuomintang's forces.

Less than 30 percent－or around 57,000 soldiers－survived the march to arrive in their destination in Northwest China's Gansu province, reported Xinhua News Agency.

For director Ning Haiqiang, a veteran known for revolutionary films, the significance of the battle attracted him to again step into the familiar zone.

"The Red Army would not survive if the soldiers hadn't succeeded in crossing the river, as Chairman Mao told American journalist Edgar Snow in Yan'an," Ning said at a Beijing event on Oct 12.